The Lisbon Maru

The Lisbon Maru was a freighter displacing some seven thousand tons, 445 feet in length with a beam of 58 feet. She was built at the Yokohama Dock Company shipyard in Yokohama, Japan for the Japanese shipping line Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha and was identified as hull number 70 during her construction. She would be registered at the port of Tokyo.

The keel of what would become the Lisbon Maru was laid down on 15 October 1919, launched on 31 May 1920 and finally completed on the 8 July 1920. Her twin propellers powered by a pair of triple expansion steam engines would provide a service speed of 12 knots

Little is known of her early career however she was known to have docked at San Francisco on 5 May 1934 with a cargo of Japanese immigrants, and in 1938 she was photographed on the Thames Estuary near London. From June to August 1942, British spies recorded the Lisbon Maru as being in dry dock at Taikoo, Hong Kong undergoing repairs as a result of damage to her hull following mine or torpedo damage sustained amidships.

Following repairs, the Lisbon Maru left Hong Kong carrying a cargo of lead bricks and other metals before then being used as a troop carrier. On 4 September 1942 documents record her being at Guadalcanal under the command of Captain Kyoda Shigeru.

Prior to her arrival at Hong Kong, the Lisbon Maru was recorded as having been loaded with 1,676 tons of freight which mainly consisted of metals including copper, scrap iron, bismuth ore, cotton, gold dust, lead, aluminium, manganese ore and leather bound for her first stop at Osaka with a further 32 tons of 5" high explosive shells bound for Tokyo.

Her last cargo would be 1834 Prisoners of War.